In the Name of Love (18 page)

As soon as they were off air Aidan was on her case. ‘I’m sure Darcy is blowing things out of all proportion. Why don’t we find her? She’s not going to lie to your face.’

Charlie had already fished her phone out of her bag and discovered Felipe had not called back. That surely meant only one thing. He was guilty and didn’t have the balls to tell her. She shook her head. ‘I don’t want to see her. I’ve got some pride, Aidan.’ And refusing his suggestion that they go out for a drink, she headed to the car park. If Felipe was playing around then they were finished. She was not going to be a victim. Not again.

She got into her car and immediately called Nathan, Zoe’s boyfriend. ‘It’s Charlie. I know it’s short notice, but can you see if Kyle is up for meeting me tonight?’

‘What? I thought you said that you would never go out with another footballer. I remember that look in your eye when you said it, it was well scary.’

Shit!
She would have to come up with an excuse that Nathan would believe.

‘I want to talk to him about the season and sound him out as a possible contributor.’ That was a whopping lie as Kyle was renowned for his prowess on the pitch and for his good looks, but not for his ability to talk about the beautiful game.

‘Oh, right. It’s for research.’ Nathan didn’t sound as if he had fallen for that one. She could almost hear his brain whirring as he figured out what to say next. ‘Tell you what, I’ll text him your number and if he’s free he can give you a call.’

Realising that he was trying to stall her, Charlie replied, ‘No, just give me his number and I’ll call him.’ Fury at Felipe was making her completely brazen. She was going to go out with Kyle and flirt outrageously with him, and who knows what else …

Two hours later she had showered and was dressed in a belted snakeskin-print shirtdress that she usually wore with leggings. Tonight she had gone for bare legs and wickedly high heels. She was sipping her second cocktail at the exclusive May Fair bar and already feeling slightly tipsy as she waited for Kyle to roll up. Felipe still hadn’t called her back, even though she’d left another message, this time telling him that she knew about him and Darcy; she’d ignored all other calls and texts, including several from Zoe and Aidan. They would
only
try and tell her to be reasonable, and right now Charlie felt like being extremely unreasonable.

‘Hey, Charlie.’ Kyle had arrived. He fancied himself as something of a fashionista and was wearing a sharply tailored petrol blue suit. His overpowering exotic aftershave made Charlie want to sneeze. He had a big grin on his face.

‘Hi, Kyle.’ She got up to receive his kiss, and wobbled slightly. God! She’d better slow it down on the alcohol front. She wanted to be in control, not face down in her Passion Fruit Martini.

He sat down next to her on the purple velvet sofa. Already Charlie felt unsettled as she’d expected him to sit opposite her.

‘So this was a surprise, you calling me up. A nice one, though, don’t get me wrong.’ Kyle had a strong Essex accent and the air of a man who was used to getting his own way with women. And if reports in the tabloids were to be believed, he’d got through more than a few …

He ordered a Mayfair martini from the waiter. Charlie knew this particular cocktail cost a staggering £150.

‘I always have one of them when I’m here, they’re well good.’ Kyle stretched out his arm along the back of the sofa, almost brushing it against Charlie.

‘Is it really worth that much?’ she asked. She could just about imagine spending that amount on a very special bottle of champagne, but a single drink? She could almost hear her mum’s voice in her head exclaiming, ‘
What a waste of money! That’s more than most families spend on their weekly shop!
’

‘Yeah, ’course. You can try some.’

Hmm, somehow she didn’t like the thought of putting her lips on his glass.

‘So why did you want to see me, Charlie?’

She fiddled with her necklace, and prepared to launch into her lies. ‘I’ve been meaning to hook up with you for ages actually.’ Number one. ‘I wanted to see if maybe you might be interested in being one of the interviewees when we profile the players.’ Number two. ‘And to ask if you could present a trophy to the girls’ football team I help coach.’ Number three. The bullshit was flowing fast now.

‘Sure, I can do all that.’ He grinned cheekily. ‘So it’s not because you find me attractive or nothing like that?’

Oh, how she wanted to fancy him! But she felt as if her body had been put into cold storage. He was fit, he was young, he had an amazing body. It meant nothing to her. He wasn’t Felipe.

‘Don’t fish for compliments,’ she bantered back. ‘I’m not one of those girls who’ll run whenever you click your fingers.’

Kyle leant forward, ‘Good, cos that’s exactly why I like you.’ His gaze took in the short dress with its unfastened buttons, giving a glimpse of Charlie’s black lace bra. ‘Like the outfit. You’re always so prim and proper when you’re on TV.’ He paused. ‘I liked your
Extra Time
shoot as well. I had a copy by the side of my bed until the girlfriend, now ex, got the hump.’

Charlie winced inside. When she had just started out presenting, some lingerie modelling shots she had done as a hard-up student had ended up in the press. The
photographer
had sold them on, cashing in on her newfound fame. The lad’s mag
Extra Time
had bought the whole set. Charlie had been mortified then and now felt mortified all over again. She had to resist the temptation to pull down her skirt and cover up some cleavage. She had wanted Kyle to be attracted to her, but now the brazen I-can-do-what-the-fuck-I-want attitude was wearing off. She was left feeling that she looked like a bit of a slut, and she didn’t like it. Letting Kyle think he was in with a chance with her wasn’t going to solve anything.

‘So you weren’t supposed to be seeing one of your girls tonight?’ she asked, keen to change the subject. She didn’t like to think of what he was doing while he flicked through
Extra Time …

‘Nah, I’m single at the moment and Tuesday nights are poker nights with the lads, so count yourself lucky that I blew them out for you.’

He was giving her the full eye-contact routine. It would have been successful with so many women, who would be dying to show him a good time by now, but lust was the last emotion Charlie was feeling. Kyle was going to end up wishing he had played poker after all.

‘I thought you were off footballers? That’s what Nathan told me.’

And here Charlie had to serve up another lie. ‘Well, enough water’s gone under the bridge. Not all footballers are like’ – she stopped herself from saying TFB and managed to come out with his name – ‘Aaron.’

‘Not when they have a girl like you.’ Kyle’s gaze was more intense. ‘Another drink? Or d’you want to get something to eat?’

‘Food would be good, and another drink.’ Actually Charlie wasn’t sure that another drink was a good idea but it might stop her from thinking too much about everything.

Half a bottle of wine later, on top of the two cocktails she’d had, Charlie was feeling light-headed and drunk. She never usually drank this much in the week, and she had barely managed to eat anything, still furious with Felipe and hurt and confused. And mixed in somewhere with all of that was guilt that she had led Kyle on into thinking she was interested in him. He wasn’t as bad as she had expected. She should have gone home after work and dealt with the Felipe and Darcy thing herself, not involved someone else. She felt as if she was putting on an act and at any second the mask would slip.

‘I can’t believe you’ve been single since you split up from Aaron,’ Kyle commented. They’d done the football talk and then discussed his car and his ex-girlfriend. In that order.

Charlie picked up her wine glass and took a sip. ‘There was someone but it didn’t work out.’ Suddenly the enormity of what had happened hit her. Felipe, the man she was falling in love with … no, wait, the man she was still in love with … had screwed someone else! Her chin wobbled and, to her deep embarrassment, tears spilt out of her eyes. She was supposed to be transmitting a kick-ass, ice-cool image, not becoming a quivering wreck! Kyle saw his chance to speed things up and moved closer to her, putting his arm around her.

‘Hey, Charlie, don’t be sad.’ He stroked her back as she struggled to keep herself together. ‘He’s not worth it if he’s made you feel like this.’ Then he paused. ‘Bloody hell, what’s
she
doing here?’

Charlie looked up and saw Zoe steaming towards them, with a sheepish-looking Nathan trailing behind. She reached their table and stood glaring at them, hands on hips.

Zoe didn’t even bother to say hello to Kyle, just launched straight in with, ‘What’s going on, Charlie? I’ve had Felipe on the phone wondering why he can’t get hold of you and what your message meant?’

Charlie sniffed and attempted to rub away the mascara that had no doubt smudged under her eyes. ‘He’s been seeing Darcy, did he tell you that?’

Sensing that he was in the middle of something heavy, Kyle removed his arm from around Charlie’s shoulders. ‘I’m just going to make a call,’ he said, getting up from the sofa.

‘That would be for the best, Kyle,’ Zoe said, taking his place.

‘I’ll go with him,’ Nathan added, clearly desperate not to become part of the emotional scene.

‘Tell me you weren’t about to go home with that gash hound!’ Zoe exclaimed. ‘I mean I love Kyle, but seriously … he makes TFB look like a fucking monk!’ When she got wound up Zoe’s language went to the dark side. She would never swear in front of her clients at the boutique but when she got the chance, she could really let rip.

Charlie shrugged. ‘Does it matter?’

‘For fuck’s sake, of course it matters!’ Zoe took in her friend’s slightly bloodshot bleary eyes, the too-short dress, the barely touched grilled sea bass. She beckoned to the waiter and ordered a large hot chocolate and a glass of water. ‘You need to sober up, because in a minute you’re going to be apologising to Felipe for accusing him of shagging Arsey Darcy! I mean, isn’t there enough drama in your life without going and inventing this?’

Thoroughly pissed off with Zoe’s nagging, Charlie rummaged through her bag for her phone. She went straight on to Facebook where she clicked on to Darcy’s page and held the phone up for Zoe to see. ‘Well, what’s this then?’

‘It doesn’t mean a thing,’ Zoe said, and then proceeded to give Felipe’s version of the night he had bumped into Darcy at the restaurant.

‘Why didn’t he tell me that he’d seen her?’ Charlie demanded, stubborn to the last and not ready to concede that she could have been so wrong.

‘Because she doesn’t even feature on his radar! While Arsey Darcy was fantasising about him, Felipe had most likely wiped her from his memory. He is in training for the Olympic Games!’

The waiter arrived with the hot chocolate and water.

‘Right, when you’ve drunk that, you’re going straight home to phone him and apologise.’

God, Zoe was so bossy! Nonetheless Charlie did what she told her, making sure that she paid half the bill and telling Kyle that she would be in touch about him appearing on the programme. A big fib, but she had
to
say something. Fortunately he was so intimidated by Zoe that he made no attempt to arrange another date, but muttered something about seeing if he could join the lads for a last poker hand.

Back home, by the time Charlie called Felipe, she was very nearly sober and very contrite as she listened to his description of meeting up with Darcy.

‘Charlie, please can we get this straight, I don’t have any feelings for Darcy. The woman is deluded. I only want you.’ He paused. ‘Where have you been tonight?’

Oh, God! Now she was going to have to ’fess up to seeing Kyle. ‘Um … I met up with this footballer. I wanted to sound him out about appearing on the show.’

Felipe laughed. ‘That is crap, Charlie! You just wanted to make me jealous. I know, because it’s exactly what I would have done.’

She tried to deny it and then gave up.

‘I was never going to do anything,’ she admitted.

‘Charlie, you have to trust me. I know that you had a bad experience with your ex, but I am not like him. There will be times when you can’t get hold of me, but that is not because I am seeing anyone else, I swear. You want this to work, don’t you?’ Felipe continued, an edge of anxiety to his voice.

‘Yes, more than anything,’ she admitted, wishing they were together so that she could feel his arms around her. She wanted to forget all about her ill-fated evening with Kyle …

‘Then we’re even,’ he said softly. ‘And now have a glass of water and two Paracetamol and go to bed. And don’t
bother
to say anything to Darcy. I get the feeling that she is very insecure. I feel sorry for her actually.’

‘Insecure? That snooty cow! She could have been responsible for breaking us up!’

‘That was never going to happen,’ he replied. ‘Now go to bed!’

Charlie didn’t want to say anything else about Arsey Darcy, but secretly she intended to have it out with her at the very first opportunity. She didn’t feel sorry for her at all.

Chapter 12

AS LUCK WOULD
have it, the first person Charlie saw when she walked into the office was Darcy. She tried and failed to summon up Felipe’s measured words of advice. Just one look at that sulky pouty face enraged her. This was the woman who had nearly destroyed her relationship with him.
Insecure, my arse!
Charlie slammed her bag down on the desk, causing Darcy to glance up from the computer screen, where for once, miraculously, she appeared to be doing some actual work.

‘What have you got to say for yourself then?’ Charlie was pointing her finger accusingly and her Manchester accent had become noticeably stronger. Everyone else in the office paused in their work and looked over, riveted by the drama.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Charlie,’ Darcy protested, looking quite taken aback. Charlie noticed that there were tears in her eyes – all part of the innocent act, no doubt.

‘You know exactly what I’m talking about … going
around
telling everyone that you were seeing Felipe and that you spent the night together. Posting up pictures on Facebook. God, you’re pathetic! Women like you make me sick, thinking that flirting with every man you meet is the only way to get ahead. Well, don’t ever fucking pretend that Felipe is your boyfriend again, do you understand?’